I don’t have a lot of advice for other pets, but possibly my Cat problem solving could spark some ideas.

How did I move four (or five or six) cats multiple times, driving across the country, living in the car, and other fun stuff…

One time the cats were in a giant ferret cage, the middle seat of the van was left in storage. We had two cars at that time.

One time we got a Great Dane crate, cut a scrap of wallboard, drilled holes that matched the bolts in-between, and sandwiched the wallboard so there were two levels.

One time a fabulous friend fostered my millions of cats in her basement and we went in and scooped the poop.

Cats don’t like change. Cats don’t like Moving. Cats don’t like cars. Cats don’t like being smooshed together. We only had one cat who meowed for state after state for forever. Road trips are cat torture but won’t kill them (unless they stop eating). If you have a seriously high-strung cat who won’t be able to take it contact your vet about anxiety meds, or even consider re-homing them. Cats are family, don’t torture your mentally unstable cats.

If you are moving across states you should make sure your cats all have tags with your cell, you have an emergency sheet for each cat (or lost poster ready to photo copy), and a printout of their vet records indicating their rabies vaccine (or rabies tags).

Know that homeless shelters and transitional housing do not let you bring pets. At the very least you may need to find a temporary home for your furbabies. If you have 30 days consider trying a find a good home for them. If you surrender your animals to an animal shelter you can’t just go pick them back up, you sign over any legal rights to them. But if you can’t provide for your pets it’s not fair to them, since they are dependent on you. This is one of those hard decisions.

Next: Moving with Kids

Dire Straits Moving – Make a Plan, Stan – Moving Truck Budgetness – Preparation – Computery Preparedness – Binder of Doom – Organize, Sort, Declutter, and Otherwise Blow Your Stuff Up – What Do I Do With All This Junk I Don’t Want? – Needful Things for Packing – Where Do I Get Boxes? – How To Pack – Moving Tips – Moving Day/Stuffing all the Stuff – Moving with Pets (tons of cats for me) – Moving with Kids – How Do I DO Schtuff with No Home? – How Do I Eat with No Home? – Meal Plan for Dire Straits – I Moved and Now I Don’t Have Anywhere to Sit – Need Help?

We hope you enjoyed our Dire Straits Moving: Tips for Relocating in a Not-So-Pretty Situation – Homelessness and Other Hard Times Moves post